Politico: Joe Biden was not aware of the hospitalization of his defense secretary
| The Politico news site reported that the Secretary of Defense was in the intensive care unit (ICU) for four days and Biden did not know about it. |
According to the report of Fars International News Agency, Politico news website in a report referring to the secrecy of the country’s defense minister regarding his hospitalization, quoted informed sources and reported that the head of the Pentagon for three days He has kept this issue a secret from Joe Biden’s administration.
The US Department of Defense only revealed on Friday night that Lloyd Austin had been hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center since the previous Monday. has been He said it was due to complications after a recent elective medical procedure. Ryder claimed that the 70-year-old official is recovering and expects to resume full duties today.
Defense Department spokesman Patrick Ryder said on Friday that Hospitalization was due to “complications after an elective medical procedure” and in justifying the Pentagon’s secrecy, he added that the decision to keep this matter secret was based on the privacy considerations of the Minister of Defense and also “the current situation “Change” has been adopted.
Rider told reporters that US Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was ready to take over her boss’s powers if necessary. He noted that Hicks ran some of the Department of Defense newspaper issues on Austin’s behalf.
However, ABC News also reported in this context that the Pentagon did not provide any information about his medical conditions and that he was hospitalized in the intensive care unit for 4 days. .
A well-informed source of this network also revealed that despite the Pentagon’s statement about Austin’s recovery, he is still in the hospital.
According to three American officials interviewed by Politico, not only were the public unaware of Austin’s hospitalization, but so were Biden and his administration.
The report also He added that White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and other senior White House officials did not know about the Defense Secretary’s absence until January 4th, three days after the fact. According to knowledgeable sources, Sullivan informed Joe Biden immediately after he was informed. It is very unlikely that he said anything about his hospitalization. Paltigo says that’s why the news about Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization came as a shock to the White House staff, and the National Security Council officials are very surprised to learn of such news after so long.
A White House official told Politico that this should never have happened.
Despite these issues, ABC reported that Biden and Austin had a friendly conversation and the US president wished him well.
In response, Austin himself issued a statement on Saturday, acknowledging that he “could have done a better job of making sure the public was properly informed.”
The hospitalization of the American defense minister and his absence for several days took place in the situation that the American bases in Iraq and Syria were under attacks by resistance groups.
| publisher | Fars News |
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